Prisoners in Paradise
Trinidad from the Museo Romántico (Photo Credit: Colt Kraczek)
On our way to the Havana airport in an old bus, Yani, a local professor who had guided us through Cuba for the last week and a half, shared that she doesn’t like going to the airport. Why? I wondered. Yani had previously told me that she had never flown on a plane. She teaches at the University of Havana, works in the tourism industry, and lives with her husband and two children in Havana. What is it about airports that could shake the resolve of such a resilient woman? The airports I know symbolize the interconnectedness of humanity, technological progress, capitalism, and freedom. But on an island just over 90 miles south of the southernmost tip of Florida, they represent the opposite: global isolation, suppressed potential, communism, and despotic foreign intervention.
Cuba currently is in the midst of a devastating economic crisis and experiencing the largest exodus of its population in its history. In Havana, streets are filled with faded colonial-style mansions from the 1920s that languish in disrepair, evidence of Cuba’s former grandeur and renown. Doctors, like Yani’s husband who are all employed by the state, work for approximately $141 USD a month — although street rates are closer to $51 — well below the global extreme poverty line (Pineda, 2024). There are many reasons for Cuba’s current social, political, and economic climate. However, nearly all of them can be traced back to the omnipresent hand of the United States.
From the founding of the US, many folk heroes and early US Presidents, such as Thomas Jefferson, envisioned Cuba eventually becoming a new state.
"If an apple, severed by the tempest from its native tree, cannot but fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly disjointed from Its own unnatural connection with Spain and incapable of self-support, can gravitate only towards the North American Union, which by the same law of nature cannot cast her from its bosom," (Ferrer, 2021).
As illustrated by the above quote, early in the relationship between the two countries, U.S. officials viewed Cuba as an infantile territory incapable of self-government. Given its proximity to the United States, its eventual joining to the Union seemed inevitable. When, by 1898, it became clear that the Cubans wanted independence and were on the precipice of achieving it from Spain, the United States intervened, stepping in during the final months of the conflict to finish off the Spanish. The U.S. government claimed victory and negotiated peace with Spain without the consult, consent, or involvement of Cuba, cementing their influence over the country for the six decades to come. The United States continued to intervene and influence Cuba after gaining independence, angering many Cubans and making the county ripe for an anti-American revolution. It finally came in 1959 when Fidel Castro led a revolution, seeded by Marxist and anti-colonial sentiments, and took over the country. In 1961, after the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion by the United States, Castro declared himself a communist. Encouraged by the declaration, the Soviet Union quickly sidled up to Castro and his newly founded government, eventually leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis. After the crisis, during the deescalation and negotiations, Cuba was again excluded from talks. The Soviets removed the missiles from the island while the United States imposed severe economic sanctions on Cuba, crippling their economy and ironically increasing Cuban economic ties and dependence on the Soviets.
Throughout history, the US has often exhibited a “superiority mindset,” leading US officials to make decisions that robs millions of their right to self determination and squanders the livelihoods of people in other countries or regions. My peers and I often repeated a quote while on our trip that effectively encapsulates the relationship between Cuba and the United States. It can originally be attributed to Porfirio Diaz, a 19th century Mexican Dictator, but it feels fitting. “...So far from God, and so close to the United States.”
I believe that a cow headed to slaughter serves as an excellent metaphor for the average Cuban citizen. Both are not allowed the freedom to leave or freedom of movement. They are either barred from doing so or are physically or financially unable. Both cannot make any attempt to protest as they will be beaten, imprisoned, or killed. One difference is that the people of Cuba live in paradise. A place so beautiful that the author, Ernest Hemingway, fell in love with the island after a three day layover, eventually deciding to call it home for 20 years. A country with a rich culture of music, dance, religion, and academia — the result of unique intersections between Indigenous Americans, Spaniards, and former African slaves. An island of awesome biodiversity with 7,500 unique species, most of which are found exclusively in Cuba (García, 2016). A paradise indeed, one that most of its own population will never be able to explore or leave as a result of an ongoing fuel shortage and travel restrictions.
Recent progress towards a reconciliation of the past and the lifting of sanctions has sparked hope, but quickly faded in recent years. During the final months of President Obama’s tenure, he journeyed to Cuba, the first sitting U.S. President to visit the island in nearly 100 years, signaling a possible end to the United State’s unilateral sanctions. Actions that complimented Obama and his journey included allowing U.S. companies greater freedom to invest in Cuba, dismantling bureaucratic travel barriers, and declassifying the Cuban government as a terrorist organization. Upon Obama’s arrival, to say that Cubans were enraptured by him is an understatement. Even several years later, countless people on the streets of Havana I met declared their love and support for our 44th President upon their discovery of my American nationality. In stark contrast, it was always followed with a denunciation of President Trump. In the months and years that followed Donald Trump taking office, nearly all of Obama’s policy changes were reversed and some sanctions tightened. With the election of Joe Biden, many Cubans spoke to me saying they hope that he will continue Obama’s work, but that so far they have been disappointed. The future policy of the Biden administration is unknown, but I believe that any significant changes are unlikely to come soon.
When we arrived at the Havana airport to conclude the Cuban stretch of our trip, the weather was hot and humid, but our faces were not wet because of the heat. As we bade farewell to our shuttle drivers and guide, still curious, I asked Yani to elaborate on her dislike for airports. She was already somber due to our departure, but I noticed pain join the melancholy smile still on her face. Yani said that she doesn’t like airports, not because she fears flying, but because it makes her feel imprisoned. In recent years she has come to the Havana airport countless times to say goodbye to many of her friends bound for the United States. Nearly every person in Yani’s university graduating class was able to get approval from the Cuban government to leave and travel to the US. She has been denied three times now, leaving her family of four among the millions remaining in Cuba, wracked with food insecurity, power outages, fuel shortages, insufficient transportation, and rampant inflation. Trapped between the weighted boot of US sanctions and the neck of an authoritarian government which refuses to yield.
My goal in this Substack post is to spark conversations about what the real impacts of US foreign policy have been upon our neighbors. As Americans, we cannot continue to embrace the omnibenevolent perception we have of our country, without considering the impacts our decisions have on the daily lives of others. It is hypocritical for us to preach ideals of human interconnectedness, promoting technological progress and freedom, while simultaneously making life miserable for our neighbors 90 miles south of us through illegal unilateral sanctions. The US is undoubtedly a global superpower, but with that power also comes the responsibility to respect human livelihood and improve the lives of people around the world. We, as citizens, need to advocate for and work towards more humanistic foreign policies, starting with Cuba. The United States can not continue to act as if the the lives of millions, including individuals like Yani, are expendable — pittances to pay in exchange for the longevity and undisputed hegemony of a nation without guilt.
References
Lage, Y. (2024, February 16). Cuba boosts doctors’ wages in bid to halt mass exodus. Barron’s. https://www.barrons.com/news/cuba-boosts-doctors-wages-in-bid-to-halt-mass-exodus-0c3a6e0d
Ferrer, A. (2021). Cuba: An American history. Thorndike Press, a part of Gale, a Cengage Company.
García, E. (2016, November 30). Cuba’s biodiversity emerges from the Shadows. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cubas-biodiversity-emerges-from-the-shadows/